James, Jamison end Cavs' skid with win vs. Hornets

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CLEVELAND(AP) -- Antawn Jamison rubbed lotion into his forearms
and let out a sigh of relief.

Finally, he remembered what it felt like to win again.

Jamison scored 18 points in his first start for Cleveland,
LeBron James added 20 points and 13 assists and the Cavaliers
escaped Tuesday with a 105-95 win over the New Orleans Hornets
to end a three-game losing streak.

Cleveland hadn't won since acquiring Jamison from Washington at
last week's trade deadline.

"It feels good to get one," Jamison said. "It wasn't pretty, but
those are the games you have to find a way to get a victory and
we found a way to do that."

New Orleans rookies Marcus Thornton and Darren Collison combined
for 59 points, including a franchise-record 23 from Thornton in
the second quarter.

Thornton finished with a career-high 37 points and set two other
team records: most points by a rookie and most points off the
bench. He hit his first five shots and 10 of 13 in the second as
the Hornets scored 40 points in the quarter.

"It was really something," Hornets coach Jeff Bower said. "He
was aggressive coming off screens and confident when he went up
to shoot."

Thornton, a second-round pick out of LSU, entered sixth in the
NBA among rookies with a 10.8-point scoring average. He nearly
equaled his previous career high of 25 just in the second
quarter.

"I would rather have a 'W,"' Thornton said. "The records mean
something, but they would mean more if we had won."

Collison was just as good for New Orleans. Subbing for an
injured Chris Paul, he scored 22 points and added 10 assists.
Collison has averaged 23.7 points over his last seven games,
while he and Thornton zipped around Cavs guards most of the
night as Cleveland continues to struggle with its defense.

"We're definitely not where we want to be (defensively) right
now," Cavaliers coach Mike Brown said. "Everybody feels it and
we've got to fight through it."

The Cavaliers' defense tightened when it had to in the fourth,
particularly on Thornton. He didn't score over the final 8:27
and didn't have a basket from the floor over the final 9:55 as
Delonte West and James did a better job of getting up in his
face.

"Their defense really stiffened and made it hard for us to get
clean looks," Bower said. "They made it hard for some of our
cuts to be run and to get the ball moved cleanly. They're an
outstanding defensive team and they did a good job on those late
possessions."

Cleveland was struggling to put the Hornets away when Mo
Williams, struggling to find his touch since returning from a
shoulder injury, broke an 89-all tie with a 3-pointer with 4:13
to play. West followed with a block of Thornton, then came down
to the other end and knocked down another 3 to stretch the
Cavaliers' lead to 95-89.

James took it from there, hitting a 3-pointer and finishing a
three-point play in the final two minutes to give Cleveland its
first win since the All-Star break. James, though, certainly
doesn't seem worried by Cleveland's recent struggles. Two of the
three teams Cleveland lost to - Denver and Orlando - are in
first place in their respective divisions.

"There's 82 games in the regular season. You'll have ups and
downs," James said. "We've had way more ups than downs. We have
the best record in the Eastern Conference and one of the best
records in the league. You can go two or three games where you
don't win a game. That's not our worries.

Jamison started in place of J.J. Hickson in his first home game.
Hickson missed the game with flulike symptoms, but Brown was
leaning toward starting Jamison anyway after easing him into the
rotation by bringing him off the bench for his first two games.

Jamison made an immediate impression, hitting his first shot of
the game and later catching a no-look pass from James and
finishing with a one-handed dunk, hanging on the rim long enough
for teammate Anderson Varejao to wrap his arms around him and
catch him in the third quarter.

"We lost (three) games in a row and thought it was the end of
the world," Jamison said. "I've never been part of that before.
It's a good feeling. It's what championship basketball is all
about."

NOTES: Shaquille O'Neal scored 20 points for Cleveland, two shy
of his season high. ... The Cavaliers are asking fans to arrive
early for the March 5 game against Detroit to help set the
Guinness World Record for "largest gathering of people wearing
fleece blankets." Each fan will receive a Cavaliers Snuggie
which they'll be asked to wear for the first five minutes of the
game. A representative of Guinness will be on hand to certify
the record. ... Mo Williams is 9 of 33 from the floor since
returning from his shoulder injury. ... F Leon Powe was active
for the first time this season. He has been recovering from
offseason knee surgery. ... Peja Stojakovic previously held the
Hornets record for points in a quarter when he scored 22 in the
first against Charlotte on Nov. 14, 2007.